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The single most important Kansas City Royal player in 2026 (non-Bobby Witt Jr. division) is Jac Caglianone by a mile. Cags’ rookie campaign in 2025 was a disaster; he didn’t hit well, he didn’t field well, and the end result was a negative Wins Above Replacement campaign. But those results were incongruous with Cags’ immense talent, and no other Royal has the power and potential that Caglianone does.
So it’s been somewhat of a relief to see the large man absolutely tear the cover off the ball in the first few games of Spring Training.
As I type this, Cags has 17 Spring Training plate appearances. He has gotten on base 10 times, which, lol. That’s split between six hits and four walks against only two strikeouts. Caglianone is also displaying his most important skill: elite exit velocity. The harder you hit the ball, the better your result at the plate. The above video is an example of what happens when he elevates and connects with his bat (IE, home runs; big, gigantic, towering dongs).
But it’s not just the home runs that Caglianone has been unleashing so far. A few days ago, Caglianone hit a ball 120 (!!!) miles per hour for a resounding double. The list of players who hit a ball harder than that last year in the regular season is two: Oneil Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
Now, I will be the first to say that Spring Training stats should always be taken with a grain of salt. Players are warming up, they’re working on specific aspects of their game, and rosters are stuffed with Minor League guys on both the pitching and hitting side. And that’s to say nothing of the Small Sample Size problem, which is a thing even in the regular season. A great 17 plate appearances only count for, well, to 17 plate appearances.
And yet, Spring Training is where hope lives. I also think that the mental side of baseball goes underappreciated by many. Last year, Caglianone learned a new position, played on two minor league teams, and made his MLB debut–all one year after being drafted out of college. A little Spring Training success, in other words, may be contagious.